The Porsche Museum: an unforgettable journey

The Porsche Museum: an unforgettable journey

Emmanuel Tresmontant - 2011-04-25

The Porsche Museum opened its doors in 2009 in Stuttgart’s historic Zuffenhausen quarter, where the marque has been based for over seventy years. A sensational attraction, it is visited both for its collection of sports cars and its surreal architecture.

Stuttgart is the ideal starting point for visiting the Baden-Württemberg. Once you have arrived in the city, head for Porsche Square (Porscheplatz) where looms a monolithic edifice of 6,500 m2. Seen from the outside, this colossal and mysterious brainchild of Austrian architect Elke Delugan Meissl seems to have fallen from the sky, rather like the monolith in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

A vibrant, unusual museum

Inside, the Porsche epic is presented in its entirety. Whole chapters of the history of the automobile in the 20th century were written here at the main Porsche factory in the centre of Stuttgart - indeed, the company’s horse logo is also the city’s emblem. This is where the very first Volkswagen Beetle, designed by Ferdinand Porsche, was built in 1938, followed in 1939 by the Type 64, precursor of all of the marque’s sports cars. In 1948, the first 356 was produced. Since 1950, over a million sports cars have left the production line here.

In the great exhibition hall, you can admire eighty of the manufacturer’s most beautiful creations, sports models as well as road cars: the first Beetle, of course, but also the legendary

356, 550, 911 and the inimitable 917 called the Pink Pig which was the unlucky star of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1971.

This is not a static museum, but rather a dynamic and original one since most of the cars on exhibit here are driven when races are organised around the site.

Open Tuesday through Sunday, 9 am to 6 pm. Tickets may be purchased until 5 pm.

Admission: 8 €

Groups (minimum 10): 6 €, includes audio guide.

Audio guide: 2 €

Nothing compares to driving a Porsche!

If you have dreamt of tooling around in a Porsche, your dream can become reality! All you need do is join a shortbreak or tour (from one day to one week) offered by the Porsche Travel Club. Hugging the bends of the Swabian Jura, discovering the twists and turns of the Black Forest Mountain Road and travelling along Lake Constance are but a few of the many possibilites on offer.